Cold wave persists, Noida temperature falls by three degrees

Noida: Cold wave weather conditions continued in Noida and neighbouring areas on Saturday, as the mercury fell by at least three degrees over the past 24 hours.

Noida: Cold wave weather conditions continued in Noida and neighbouring areas on Saturday, as the mercury fell by at least three degrees over the past 24 hours.

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According to weather analysts, cold wave conditions will continue on Sunday, and return from Tuesday December 22 again after a short breather on Monday.

On Saturday, the minimum temperature for Noida was recorded at 5.1 degrees Celsius against 8.1 degrees a day earlier. The maximum temperature was recorded at 21 degrees, same as a day earlier, said officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature for the national Capital region, based on the Safdarjung observatory, was 3.9 degrees Celsius, four degrees below the season’s average, against 4.6 degrees a day earlier.

“Icy cold winds will continue their effect on the region towards Sunday as well, with the minimum temperature likely to hover around 5 degrees Celsius and the maximum around 22 degrees Celsius, respectively,” said an official from IMD.

Experts said that the mercury will, however, rise by two to three degrees on Monday, briefly pulling the region out of the cold wave situation.

“There is a western disturbance expected to cause light snowfall or drizzle over the Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The western disturbance will create an induced cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan, leading to a change in the wind directions over the NCR from icy-cold north-westerly to easterly and south-easterly on Monday. The change in winds will lead to a rise in mercury,” said Mahesh Palawat, director, private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

He added that the change in wind directions will be short lived as they will revert to the icy-cold north-westerly winds coming from Himalayan states, leading to drop in the mercury.

“The wind directions will revert to north-westerly from Tuesday, which may lead to another series of cold-wave from Tuesday, December 22, or Wednesday onwards,” said Palawat.

Meanwhile, the air quality of Noida entered the “very poor” category on Saturday, while Greater Noida and Ghaziabad were under “poor” category. Noida has been oscillating between the “moderate” and “poor” category since December 14.

According to the central pollution control board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500, on Saturday was 301 or “very poor” against 288 or “poor” a day earlier.

Greater Noida’s air quality was 292 against 297 a day earlier, both “poor”.

The AQI of Ghaziabad improved from 304 or “very poor” a day earlier to 295 or “poor” on Saturday.